Sunday, March 29, 2009

We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy Moo Year!! No, I am not looking at a funky calendar. The last March challenge for the Corrosive Challenge was a Christmas card with animals. Talk about a challenge for me!

I knew, when Janet told us the challenge, that I'd be using TGF's McSplendid farm set because it was the only set that had animals that was in my collection. But what was going to go with it?? Well, with the craze of the digi-stamps going on, I decided I could do basic shapes. So I opened up a program on my computer and I drew the Christmas tree. Viola! My first digi-image. Primitive as it is. Then I needed to make my sweet little cow festive. I hadn't a clue how to draw her hat on the computer so I free-handed the hat. Boy am I glad it fit her head! So when I say this is MY card, it truly is MY card with the exception of the cow and the paper.

I hope you join us in the Corrosive challenge. And don't forget to play along with Gabby's sketch. Combine the two! It'll be lots of fun!!!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Good Morning! Welcome to another addition of Super Challenge Saturday! This weeks it's Gabby's turn to host and she's got an awesome sketch for you to play with! I altered her sketch a little, only because I couldn't figure out how to get the last element in on my card.

Here's the great sketch that Gabby designed for us:

Great, don't you think!

Here's my card:

I flipped mine a little and as you can see I am missing the circle element of her sketch. This image I found via a post on Splitcoast that this awesome guy has 3 free digi-images. Well, you know this has been my latest obsession so I had to go check it out. ISN'T HE CUTE!!?? OK, so who's this awesome guy. His name is Dustin Pike. Please go check out his blog. I think we are going to be seeing some great things from him!

I colored this adorable dragon with Prismacolor Markers (Parrot Green, Lime Peel, Canary Yellow and Pink) and then had to cut him out otherwise he was too big for the card. For the kite, I printed it again, cut it separately and mounted to black card stock. The dragon is pop dotted. I had to scan my card so the dimension is sort of distorted. The sentiment I took a line from the song from Mary Poppins Let's Go Fly A Kite. So now I'll be singing this song for days. Oh, by the way, it's completely lost on the scan - but I did sponge clouds to create the background.

I hope you enjoy the card. Hop on over to Gabby's blog and Joni's blog, I'm sure they've got something totally, amazingingly wonderful for you to see!!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

OK - have you all discovered digi-stamps and digi-paper? Oh my word is this fun, inexpensive and carries instant gratification!! There are so many wonderful companies that offer digi-images. The Greeting Farm is the company that got this obsession going for me. Other great companies that offer digi-stamps are All That Scraps and my newest favorite is SquiggleFly(.com) - talk about way cute images. This card I'm sharing with you today is from SquiggleFly, she's the cutest Pixie I've ever seen.

My card base is NOT Whisper White. *GASP* (LOL) My card base is Bashful Blue and then I used this adorable dp that I picked up at my LSS that was on sale. It's from Suzy Zoo and I just love the Spring colors of it. I colored the image with Prismacolor Markers (Light Cerurealan Blue, Deco Pink, Pink, Eggshell and Light Peach) and let me tell ya I am lovin' these markers! I topped the card with just a bit of ribbon, primas and bling. I hope you like my card.

I mentioned digi-paper. Gina K Designs carries some AWESOME digi-paper packs and I also stumbled into another company via Paper Craft Planet called My Grafico.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

I love visiting Heather Scott's blog - she posts a new sketch every Monday and every now and then I get to participate. This is my take on the sketch and also completes a card for my monthly card swap.

The base is Whisper White. The circles I used Brocade Blue, Certainly Celery and Almost Amethyst. The dp is DCWV. The monkey image was provided by Sara and I believe is a Great Impressions stamp. He's so cute! I colored him with Prismacolor Markers (Light Mocha, Eggshell, Driftwood and Lime Peel). Then I created the sentiment on my computer using Comic Sans font. Of course I HAVE to use my Cuttlebug somehow to I added some texture to the circles. I hope you like it.

Friday, March 20, 2009

This card was the 3rd card that I made to submit for the Paper Makeup Design Team. I am sad that I didn't make it, but I did have so much fun making these cards and I love the Fairy Collection that Katie offers!!

This is Penelope. Isn't she an Asian Beauty! I found this type of card on a blog or something some time back (I can't remember now, but when I do, I'll post and give the proper credit) and I just loved it! I cleaned my tables the other day and found this base sitting under a stack of papers that needed to be filed. I thought it was the perfect start to this card. The orange dp is Basic Grey Ambrosia paper and is absolutely gorgeous. I wanted to make a Mizuhiki knot but couldn't find the Mizuhiki anywhere, so of course I had to devise another plan. Late at night lying in my bed it occurred to me that I have a QuicKutz Revolution die that would work and sure it enough, it worked very well.

Don't forget to post your card for the sketch challenge by midnight tonight either on SCS using keywords BLOGC5 or a comment here or on Joni/Gabby's blogs.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

...so now I can share with you what I made to apply for the Design Team. Actually I already did. My card that I added to the blog-hop was one of them. It's so cool that I got 29 comments - the most ever! Thanks to everyone!

As you can see, I used my latest favorite dp. I love this saying, it's one of the wonderful Quotes that Katie has in her collection. I used the Fiskars scalloped edge punch to create the base of the card. I went through a few sheets of Chocolate Chip card stock before I got that measurement right. Then added some ribbon and flowers. I think my recipient is going to love it!

Have a great rest of your weekend. I'll share the other card later in the week.

Hi! Thank you for stopping at my little piece of the party! I am so happy that you're here and I think it's just wonderful that you are celebrating Katie and her awesome line of stamps! I can't wait until the actual kick off at 3:oo (EST), but am so glad that she's letting us get the ball rolling early for some pre-party chatter and eye candy.

So away we go! This is Emma the lovely Spring Fairy and she's having tons of fun dancing in the rain.

I had a lot of fun with this card. It does feature a sentiment from an older TAC set but I felt it perfect for Emma. The decorative paper I chose I absolutely fell in love with and without even realizing it, I used it on several of the cards I made in the last couple of days. It's Blue Raspberry Paisley by DeJa Views. I colored her with the Prismacolor Markers I just got and I am so ready to place another order for more! They are awesome. The sketch came from a blog I recently found called Live * Laugh * Love and it's the greatest sketch!

Enjoy the blog-hop and party! Don't forget that there are challenges, games, prizes and digi-images that will only be available for one day.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Happy Saturday Challenge day! I am so excited to be hosting this round because I have lots of NEW to share with you.

Here's my card. Are they not the cutest fairies ever! Oh my goodness, these little girls are so sweet. They came from Renae at Two Scoops of Rice. What a wonderful blog this is. Joni - The Queen of Enabling found this blog and well, I was hooked. I pre-ordered the set Garden Fairies and as a gift she sent me this free digi. If you head on over there, tell her Melissa and Joni sent you.

Here's the challenge. I found this sketch while playing on the computer one day. This is from Sketch Lovers and I believe this is a fairly new site, she's only got a few sketches, but they're fun and sometimes having that little bit of inspiration is all we need to get the creative juices flowing. I'm sorry the picture came out sort of small, it's how it saved.

Back to the details of my card and all the new stuff! First of all, the image. I already told you about that. The background paper was one of the GinaK release party freebies. I'm pretty sure you can still download them for free and that is totally cool! This is from the Rich and Shabby collection and it is fabulous! I am loving this whole idea of digi-paper. You get to make as much as you want, you don't have to worry about Michaels not being open at 11:00 pm when you ran out of the paper you were using! And it's GORGEOUS!

I colored these little girls with my new Prismacolor Markers. Be sure to visit Gabby's blog, she's got two awesome tutorials on there for how to color with these fabulous markers. They do take a bit of practice, but they are really cool!

Lastly, the ribbon slide... is that neat or what! It's a stamp! My friend Jessica sent this to me as part of a prize for doing so well with my card kits I sent for her swap. These are from DRS Designs and they have lots of these stamps that create these slides and they are so much fun.

OK do I sound like an info-mercial now.

The Challenge Details:1. Go create your card using the above sketch for inspiration.2. Upload to your SCS Gallery using the keywords BLOGC5.3. Comment here or on Gabby and Joni's blog that you participated so we can oooh and ahhh right away.4. Please upload by Friday night, I'll announce the winner on Saturday.5. If you don't have a SCS gallery, that's OK. Comment here and leave me a link where to find it.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Good Morning! Happy Sunday to you! It's a busy day today, so I have to post this quickly. Today is my oldest son's 14th birthday. Ack!! So tonight we're going out for our birthday date, just he and I and I have lots to accomplish before I can go.

OK onto the challenge. I loved this challenge even though I had difficulty with one of the colors. Here's my contribution to the challenge:

I used a white base that I embossed with a Cuttlebug border folder. Then a Certainly Celery mat. The image is Rachelle Ann Miller (Lily & Milo Collection) called Enjoy the Moment. This is such a sweet image all about friendship and to me friendship is one of those big gifts from God. I colored the image with my Stampin' Write markers. I'm still trying to get as good as others I've seen. I matted it to Pretty in Pink and then punched out flowers with the Spring Bouquet punch from Pixie Pink and white. Pixie Pink has to be one of my lowest colors on the favorite scale.

This picture to the right is Janet's inspiration. It's her PJ's!! I love this idea of using a favorite thing to inspire creativity. This is just like Joni's challenge we had a couple of weeks ago to use a purse for inspiration. And what other fabulous thing can you come up with than a comfy pair of pajamas!!

I hope you decide to take the challenge. Visit the challenge blog and follow Janet's directions. Also, don't forget to visit the design team's blogs and leave them a little love. They work hard for you. And I think I am the only American! This is so fun - so much perspective.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Jessica is so sweet! She awarded me an award that I measure up! How cool is that! I've been given awards before and I hate to admit this, but I just recently learned how to display them. How simple and how silly of me to not know this.

Here are the steps for this award:

1. Say one nice thing to the man in your life: My husband makes me laugh! And he knows right when I need it.

2. List at least six ways you measure success in your life: my children, my friends, my health, being able to help others, finding time for myself, and being financially secure enough to have time for all the above! I kept Jessica's words, because I couldn't have said it better myself. But above all these others things, my faith in God. I know He's there and active in our lives and we are richer for it.

Who do I give this award to:

1. Joni because her blog is awesome, but because she's one of the most amazing people that God has put into my life. I want to be like her when I grow up.

2. Gabby because her blog is also very awesome and without her knowing it, she pushes me to do better in my art. I want to be able to color just like her!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

One of my favorite movies and books is Memoirs of a Geisha. Although my card doesn't come near the beauty of Sayuri or even Hatsumomo but I do love this sweet little Geisha image from The Greeting Farm. She's not available at the moment because she was a digi-image and recently voted to be immortalized in rubber. I created this card for a swap that I'm participating in. I have trouble with Asian design so I signed up for this swap to break me out of my box. And I decided not only is it for the swap but as my entry for The Pink Elephants next challenge: ribbons and die cuts.

The decorative paper is American Crafts purchased at Michaels. I printed Geisha Anya out wallet size and used my prismacolor pencils to color her pulling the colors from the paper into her Kimono. Then, with the help of my friend Joni teaching how to look up Kanji, I found the Kanji character for "love." This card displays the simple elegance that I like. I hope you enjoy it, too.

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About Me

I am a mother of 3 amazing young adults! I am a proud momma of a Navy Sailor, a 2nd year college student and a boy entering college soon. In my spare time, I love to cook, read, stamp and make 3D paper projects. I've been a papercrafter for 22+ years and I love every minute of it. I decided I didn't have enough to do, so I also "own" a challenge blog, Tuesday Morning Sketches.
If you need to reach me, please feel free to email me at stampedbym@gmail.com

Copyright 2006-2018

All cards, scrapbook pages, photographs and text are owned by Melissa Craig. I have created the cards and pages with copyrighted material (Papertrey Ink, DRS Designs, MFT Stamps, Hero Arts and many others) and are for personal use only. I share these ideas with you, you are free to CASE the cards but ask that you do not submit for contests or publication. Also, please give credit where credit is due. If you CASE something of mine, please tell others where you got the idea. Thanks!! Happy Stamping and inky hugs.